


The Young Wolf and the Iron Lord After the War

by SanneARBY



Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: Awkward Sexual Situations, Budding Love, Canon-Typical Violence, Developing Relationship, F/M, Getting Together, Grief/Mourning, Healing, Mourning together, Original Character(s), Post-Red War (Destiny), Psychological Trauma, Sad with a Happy Ending, Soulmates, The Iron Lords (Destiny)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-13
Updated: 2020-12-13
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:41:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,634
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28049424
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SanneARBY/pseuds/SanneARBY
Summary: After everything she's lost and Eris missing still, she flees the Tower for a breath of fresh air. And finds comfort in an Iron Lord instead.
Relationships: Vax / Saladin
Kudos: 2
Collections: All Vax stories





	The Young Wolf and the Iron Lord After the War

**Author's Note:**

> This is really just 11k words of me making Vax fall in love with Saladin. It's what she deserves.

For the first time in many months, the Tower seemed quiet. 

The air outside was cold, the wind ruthlessly beating down on anybody who dared go outside. In the far distance in the City, many lights were hung up, preparations for the Dawning despite the heavy ordeal that had taken place not even a month ago. 

Vax drooped her head down, taking deep and heavy breaths until the cold had properly seeped and settled into her gut. 

“I can’t stay here.”

A simple enough statement. 

She looked back up to the City, leaned heavily on the sturdy railing separating her and the emptiness of the sky beneath her. “All it does is remind me of what I lost, even when we’re rebuilding. We’re rebuilding without her present, and I can feel it so deeply,” she winced, the cool wind blowing her hair around her head. 

Ghost materialised, as it always did when they discussed serious matters. “And where would we go? I am sure we could be useful in the rebuilding efforts.”

An almost mocking laugh. “The Tower has more than enough Guardians, we would barely be missed,” she halted, hesitated. “We’d only ever be missed by one, and we are instead missing her.” 

The Warlock looked up to the Traveler, watched for a moment as the broken pieces slowly floated by and moved around their owner. 

The sky settled into a pale pink, the sun casting rays of light over the City turning all of its lights on. 

A deep sigh escaped her, running a hand down her face. “We will leave tomorrow,” she stood back up straight, fiddled her fingers over her jeans. “I will notify Ikora.”

Ghost looked at its companion, blue optic a calming gaze after all this time. “I am sure she will accept the leave of absence, she knows how close you and Eris were.”

Her icy blue eyes cast down to her machine, hand reaching up to cradle it gently. “I suspect she knows a lot more than that, too,” she murmured, glancing back to the Traveler and the City below. “But I suppose it is not our time yet to know.”

She turned and walked away, the wind blowing straight through her wooly sweater. 

“Where did you get these reports?”

Vax simply smiled, pulling her helmet down over her head and clasping it in place with a satisfying hiss. “I think the whole Tower knows at this point how messy Cayde can be with his reports. He likes his job, but doesn’t always keep a close eye on the paperwork,” she spawned her sparrow in, hopping on the vehicle before she glanced around the hot desert. 

“You stole them?” Ghost muttered incredulously. “Vax.” Displeased. 

“No, I copied them. Ghost, I’d never steal anything,” she tapped her helmet as if to drive the point home to her companion, then boosted forwards, the sand bursting up into the air below her. “Ping me the coordinates of the Fallen reports, please. There’s only speculations on where they’re hiding out, and I’d like to see if we can find it.”

After the desert, and a successful killing of a Kell and the dispersing of the house, she moved on to the far corners of the EDZ, driving around for a long time and only occasionally stopping to kill something in the way. 

Now, they were camped high up in an old and broken down skyscraper, something they had few of in the Last City. 

Her feet dangled carelessly over the edge, the Warlock looking out over the overgrown remnants of an old city, the luscious green blowing in the wind far below her. The campfire crackled behind her, warmed up the area through the cold of the season. A book lay forgotten at her left. 

“You think she’s dead?” Vax asked softly, looking out over the golden burned sky. 

Ghost materialised, followed her gaze out. “If she was, I think she’d been found during the recovering procedures, and we would’ve been told,” it halted for a moment. “I highly doubt that she is.”

The Warlock shrugged with nonchalance, but the glance in her eyes betrayed her anxiety. “She left months before the Red Legion attacked, but she seemed aware of them preparing an attack,” she looked at her machine. “I wasn’t necessarily talking about having died in the City. She could be anywhere, lying in the gutter of some old city, Fallen feasting on her body.”

“Vax,” Ghost moved its shell in what she came to recognise as a frown. “Why would you torture yourself like this? We simply do not know where she is or why she has gone. Theorising of what could be isn’t like you.”

She winced at the true words, carding some hair behind her ear. “I just can’t fathom that she left without ever saying goodbye. I thought she’d return that first month after she had left, and then I kept hoping for all that time after,” she raised her knees up to her chest, resting her chin on them. “I simply hoped she’d be back after the war. At least to check up on us.

“It just didn’t hit me that she is truly gone until after the war. When I had time to really think about what life means to me,” she bit her lips. “What ___she___ means to me.”

Ghost huddled close to its Guardian, cuddling in the space between her neck and shoulders. “I’m here for you. I’m sorry.” 

A soft smile graced her features, and she raised her hands to cup Ghost in them, holding it close to her. “I will always have you, and I’m thankful for that,” she lowered it to her lap, holding it protectively with her. “But we both know you can’t give me what I need from Eris.” 

A sad smile this time, one of unwilling acceptance. 

She got up and headed to her tent, the campfire slowly dying down. 

It turned out some lost Taken had holed up in a big forested area further up, some of their blights investing the immediate area. 

Vax easily discarded of them, her Nameless Midnight still smoking when she could finally put it down and take a breather. 

She sat down on a log, removing her helmet and taking a deep breath. “I really hoped the Taken would disappear when we killed Oryx. Yet here they are, still jittering about.” she kicked at a pebble, then cursed when the sound of more Taken spawning in surrounded her. 

She jumped up and swiftly put her helmet back on. 

They moved ever on, days fading into weeks of radio silence from and to the Tower. Somewhere along the way she let go of searching and just drove around for the sake of it, letting the environment whiz by. 

“I think we’re being followed.” 

She chewed at the cooked rabbit, eyeing her surroundings nonchalantly. “Not an enemy, just somebody who’s turned off their ID tags.”

Ghost was silent for a moment, no doubt surveying the area. “I do see some heat signatures, mostly small animals, nothing noteworthy.”

“Then no doubt they are out of your range. They know of Ghosts, then. A Guardian,” the Awoken tossed the bone into the fire, added some wood to keep it going. 

“Who would want to follow us?” 

Shoulders raised. “I honestly don’t really care who it is. All I care about is what they want. They’ll show themselves sooner or later,” she got up and stretched, looked into the darkness of the trees around her. 

Days later, and another good distance away, she was once again setting up camp. This time it was on a high up cliff, the greenery opening up enough on one side to look out over the forest below. The path up to this vantage point was small, the odds of somebody coming up unheard were slim. 

The campfire crackled and Vax blinked back to the present, open book idly in her hands. She straightened. “Ghost, what’s the time?”

“Only 6:30 PM. Early nights.” it hummed, looking out over the forest. 

Twigs snapped.

Vax jumped up and pulled her gun out, aiming it at the bushes as Ghost dematerialised behind her. 

It took another moment until the fire illuminated the weathered armour of Lord Saladin Forge. 

The Warlock lowered her weapon instantly, eyebrow raised. 

Ghost materialised once it realised it was safe. “Lord Saladin?” it questioned, watching the Titan’s accompanying wolves walk into the small clearing with him. 

“Good evening,” he said, nodding politely at the two, making his way to a rock near the fire to sit down on it. He made himself at ease. 

Vax eyed him, scout rifle tucked back neatly against the log she sat back on. She watched as the Iron Lord pulled his helmet off and set it down next to him. 

In the light of the flames the dents and scratches on his weathered armour were easy to see, the golden paint rusted off especially where parts met. This close, it was easy to tell his armour had been through a lot - just like it was easy to see that he took loving care of it. Some leftover polish glistened on his left thigh. 

His eyes followed hers, and he bemusedly looked back at her, not saying a word. 

She stared back into his eyes defiantly, ignoring the heat rushing to her face.

The flames flickered between them. 

“Why is your ID turned off? If we didn’t have visuals we could’ve shot-“

“I figured you two were smart enough to know an actual enemy would shoot first, just like you would.” he tapped at his nose and smiled, unclasping his cloak from his armour and putting it aside.

The Warlock narrowed her eyes at that, glanced at the path he had come from and then the wolves resting near the fire seeming at ease. 

Ghost looked between the two. “You have been following us. Why?” it turned to look at Saladin, who at this point had started cleaning his weapon. 

Vax’ glowing blue eyes glanced over the weapon, eyed at the various scratches and wear and tear. And then blinked as she recognised it as Jolder’s Hammer. 

When she looked back up, her eyes met his dark ones. She opened her mouth, hesitated, then closed it, shaking her head. 

The Titan chuckled softly, his demeanour calmer than Vax had ever seen it. He seemed more at ease in the field than in the Tower, his hands deftly taking apart the intricate weaponry to swiftly clean it before putting it back. 

Silence stretched infinitely between them, Saladin not answering Ghost. 

Vax knew what he was playing at.

Saladin looked at her for a moment and then sighed, putting aside the machine gun. “Teasing aside, I do not want to force you into talking if you don’t want to.” he looked out over the clearing beneath them. 

At this point the sun was starting to disappear behind the dense forest, its orange rays of light shooting up into the sky, the last light of the day. 

He turned back. “I was out scouting a while back, get away from the Tower and the Peak. Noticed a certain Warlock scooting around an area most Guardians do not go to. Got curious.” he leaned back and had his Ghost transmat a flask of water. 

Ghost hovered closer to Vax, who was simply staring at Saladin, her glowing eyes easily visible over the flames between them. 

“Didn’t have to make contact.” her companion noted then. “Could’ve passed us by.”

He chuckled softly, nodding in agreement. “You’re absolutely right. But somebody like Vax,” he looked at her, smiled gently. “Does get missed around the Tower. Couldn’t help but notice the ping of Ikora’s second in command. She thinks quite highly of you - and has been wondering where you’ve been.”

“We notified her we’d leave-“ Ghost muttered. 

“He means, that she’s simply been wondering about our whereabouts.” Vax spoke up, voice feeling odd in the presence of the Titan.

Saladin straightened and looked at Vax with renewed interest. “The Young Wolf does speak. Been a while since I’ve heard your voice.”

“Haven’t felt the need to use it much. All things considering.”

He nodded solemnly but quickly moved past it. “Last time we spoke it was during the SIVA crisis, if I recall correctly?”

A simple nod. 

“Heh,” he looked at her, eyes seeming softer. “Can’t thank you enough for that. Cleanup wasn’t easy, but - what you did must’ve been a thousand times worse.”

Silence. 

A deep sigh moved the man to stand, stretch his legs, and simply observe his surroundings. With his hands on his hips he eyes back at Vax. “What say you I join you for a day or two? I think we could both use some company.” 

Her stomach flipped and her heart ached. She turned away, tried to suppress the pure ___grief___ bubbling up from within her. 

A gentle hand touched her shoulder and she jolted back, tensing up as she looked up tot Saladin.

He gently removed his hand. “Don’t get lost there, that’s - not an easy place to traverse.” 

Somehow, she knew he spoke from experience. 

She took him up on the offer. 

Although never quite having had much contact with the Iron Lord before the SIVA crisis, she had vaguely noticed the glances they shared whenever he had been around during Iron Banner. She’d never joined his glorified killing arena, but passed the area enough that they had started nodding in recognition to each other. 

And that had been all contact they’d shared until he enlisted her help to defend Felwinter Peak. 

During that crisis it was business only, not a lot of downtime to chat around considering they had a planet to save from a certain virus. 

Once that had been dealt with, she had noticed he viewed her differently, something akin of respect in his glances and small smiles. She hadn’t viewed him much different, though respected him much more now that she knew his backstory and what he’d lost. 

Despite the brief interactions they shared, she couldn’t deny a certain curiosity had started bubbling within her every time she saw him after the SIVA crisis. Something within her wanted to run her fingertips through his stubble and ghost her hands over his back, feel the muscles beneath his skin. 

A blush rose to her cheeks as she jolted back to the present, helmet covering her heated face and protecting her from the hot air of the desert. 

Saladin sped past her on his sparrow, pointed to a sprawl of buildings in the far distance, the heat in the air distorting the view. 

The Warlock raised her hand, shielded her visor from the harsh sun, and observed the ruined remains of a city at least a dozen kilometers away from them. She glanced at Saladin’s figure, the man for once having discarded of his robes for the sake of not overheating.

His armour glistened in the sun and blinded the Warlock for a moment before her visor corrected for the amount of light. Despite not using it a lot, which was noticeable, his sparrow was impeccably well-kept, every single thing about the Iron Lord just shining in the bright sun. Obviously, he didn’t go out much. 

They slowed to a halt in the middle of the ruined city half buried in the sand, the wind scratching their armour with the sand it carried. The city was silent, rusted cars salvaged dry to their frames and even those were missed, simply some rusted pipes and machinery left behind. The buildings did not look much better, windows broken and curtains blowing through, no semblance of roads other than the distance between the forgotten buildings. 

Saladin looked back at Vax, could practically ___see___ the questioning raise of her eyebrow. He chuckled a bit. “This used to be called ‘Las Vegas’. Have some fond memories here.”

“Of the Golden Age, old man?” She teased lightly. She had never expected Saladin to be as calm and peaceful as he had been the past two weeks, the Warlock had quite quickly started feeling at ease enough to jab at his appearance. She joked, but she couldn’t deny the mature charm he gave off when he wasn’t watching Guardians slaughter each other. Any flutter of her eyes or skip of the heartbeat she pointedly ignored. 

“Actually,” the Iron Lord chimed up, feet heavy in the sand as he got off the sparrow. “Spent some time here with—“ he faltered, stiffened ever so slightly before he forcibly relaxed. “With somebody special,” he finished then, the sparrow dematerialising. “Come on, I want to show you something.”

The Awoken watched him walk off, own sparrow lowering slowly to the ground before despawning as well. ___Somebody special___ , but it had been in the past tense. Her heart ached at the familiar feelings bubbling up - but this time not for herself.

“Come on!” his voice echoed back outside, sounded happy. 

She nodded and jogged up the big stairs, coldness seeping down her spine. 

She followed him into a big and luscious hall. Or at least, the remnants of it. Forgotten machines lined the walls and filled up the room, black and cracked screens staring back at the Guardians. A chandelier hung, miraculously, on the ceiling, small crystals refracting the sunlight into small rainbows on the walls. 

“You wanted to show me a casino?” she eyed at the joysticks on various machines, flipped the lever of another. 

She about had a heart attack when a loud sound akin to music echoed around the hall. “Fucking hell-!” she muttered, hand hovering over the gun on her thigh dropping as she walked over to the source of the noise. 

Saldin’s face popped around the corner with an uncharacteristic kind of glee glistening in his eyes. 

It was adorable. 

“There you are, come look at this,” he reached out a hand at her, beckoned her around the wall blocking her vision. “These are gambling machines from way back. Last City doesn’t even have these in the retro sections,” he looked back at her, relaxed posture as he said, “You can take off your helmet. No enemies here, they hate the heat.”

She tilted her head but then decided to trust his judgement and took her helmet off, the hot air meeting her already damp face. “Geez.”

“Yeah, it’s hot here,” he didn’t look at her, simply operated the machine with the help from his Ghost. 

She watched the clovers, diamonds, and whatever other images roll by until they stopped one by one, and the machine let out a disappointed noise. “Wait - you go gambling in the City?” she frowned then at the Titan, only now processing what he’d said. There were so many more things she wanted to say, but she enjoyed his company too much to try and fuck it up with her opinions. 

He shrugged, pulled the lever again. “Sometimes, mostly to hang out with some distant friends who actually enjoy it. I honestly couldn’t care less, I enjoy having glimmer in my bank account,” he laughed a bit, sighed when he once agin didn’t win anything. “Can you believe I haven’t won anything in all that time I’ve come here? What a sham.”

The corners of her mouth curled at that, the Awoken smiling fondly at the Titan. She ignored the beating of her heart, explained it away as still being on edge from the sudden music earlier. She looked down at the sand underneath her feet, noticed then the amount of footsteps to this place. Two pair of feet, one matching Saladin’s current boots, and another she couldn’t place. “How many times have you been here?”

His brown eyes looked into hers, and something she didn’t quite recognise filled them for a moment before he looked away. “I tended to come here quite a few times a year. Whenever we were free, really. Just felt like the right thing to do,” he shrugged, gently reached for his Ghost and pulled it with him, the gambling machine turning off at the loss of power. “Haven’t been here for some time.”

She knew grief when she saw it. “I’m sorry.”

He smiled softly, shook his head. “Nothing to apologise for, Young Wolf. Let’s set up camp, it’s going to be dark soon.” 

Camp consisted of climbing up high to one of the hotels that hadn’t been completely buried. Here on the 13th floor they had a good view of the land, the cold of the night really coming down on them now. 

Vax was grateful for the campfire they had set up, but even with that and the thick blanket she had found around her, she couldn’t stop herself from shivering. “It’s a fucking furnace at day and then like some cruel joke it’s a freezer at night.”

“Do you want my blanket?” he already started pulling it off of himself. 

“No, please. I’m perpetually cold, some days it’s just worse than others,” she smiled apologetically at the Titan, silently endeared at his willingness to discard his own blanket he could surely use more than her. Her gaze lowered to the flames, gears turning. “Saladin,” she started then.

“I know what you’re going to ask,” his deep voice replied, a sigh escaping the troubled man. He wrapped the blanket tighter around himself, the canvas of his tent blowing in the slight wind coming through the broken windows. He met her gaze once more when he spoke, “And I kindly ask you not to.”

She stared back at him and then simply nodded, closed her eyes as she bundled up to try and contain any warmth.

Saladin stood up and wrapped his blanket around her anyway. 

She awoke bundled into a cushion of blankets, sweat dripping down her neck to her spine and soaking into her bodysuit. She threw off the blankets and let out a noise, the heat already mercilessly beating down on her. 

A moment later she crawled out of her tent, nudging aside the canvas and letting out a breath when she stood. 

Saladin’s tent was already abandoned, their campfire from the evening before reduced to smoulders. A pan was resting next to it with a cover on it to ensure no sand could come in. When she lifted it, she blinked in surprise at the fresh scrambled eggs. She gathered Ghost and checked the hologram HUD, zoomed out to a few kilometers, and located Saladin. 

“What do you think?” she asked her companion then, quietly, thoughtfully. 

Ghost looked at her, then at the friendly ping a kilometer away. “He seems to be calmer than before.”

The Warlock nodded in agreement, sighed as she gathered the scrambled eggs and took a bite. “With Iron Banner he always looked so solemn, and then during the SIVA crisis things were no different other than that he opened up about the Iron Lords,” she murmured, humming at the delicious eggs. “But then, ___now___ , he looks so… Calm, peaceful,” she carded some hair behind her ear, blew some sand away. “It’s clear he has something on his mind, maybe he is also trying to escape that.”

Her companion nodded in agreement. “You two seem to get along well thus far. He seems fond of you, and you of him.”

She glanced at the machine. “What are you implying?”

It shrugged its shell, flew around her head for a bit. “Nothing, really. It’s something I noticed. Your heart rate is also consistently lower around him, mind seems at ease. I’m happy for you.”

A heated blush rushed to her cheeks. “I don’t - Eris is -“ she started, but then faltered, sighing. “Now isn’t a good time. Regardless of how I feel.”

She finished her scrambled eggs. 

“See that?”

She wasn’t surprised that he had noticed her before she had even announced herself. 

She walked up to the edge where he was seated, high above the ruins of Las Vegas on the roof of another hotel. She took the binoculars that were handed to her and then looked over to where Saladin pointed. 

A patrol of Fallen approached the city limits, animatedly chattering with each other. The heat in the air warped the image, but she could clearly see the Ketch in the distance far behind the Fallen on foot. 

She handed the binoculars back and her hands rested on her hips as she looked out over the dusted skyline. “What’s your plan?” 

The Titan hummed, transmatting the binoculars away as he stood up and pointed at the Ketch. “That’s their base of operations. They don’t know we’re here, I suggest we sneak around the patrol and infiltrate the ship. Then we rig it to explode and take out the patrol. I know this city better than them.” 

The Awoken was quiet as she turned to look at him. She often forgot that he was a Titan just like Zavala, that his mind was somehow precisely attuned to fine battle plans and acting them out almost perfectly. Add to that that he was an Iron Lord who fought back in the Dark Ages, and you had a good tactical mind with fine precision. 

“What?” his brown eyes met hers, questioning. 

She blinked and shook her head, looked back at the dots on the horizon. “It’s a good plan. I’ll go first in the ship, I know the layout well,” she reached for her Nameless Midnight. 

“As do I, Young Wolf,” he smirked at her. “I may be considered an old man, I have my own fair share of infiltrating enemy ships,” he grabbed a sniper rifle she hadn’t seen before, and at her curious glance he simply said, “Next Iron Banner reward. You should participate sometimes, I’d love to see you fight.”

She simply chuckled a bit and jumped down the roof, hoping he hadn’t seen the purple blush rushing up her cheeks. “You can see me fight now!” she called back up to him, and wasn’t sure if she really wanted him to have heard that. 

They had changed their shaders to blend into the desert, but they still had to rough up Saladin’s armour to stop it from glistening as much as it did in the hot sun. 

“You put too much polish on,” Vax had berated him as she sanded down the armour on his biceps. 

He had simply smiled at her and continued the sanding of his legs. 

So now they were here, walking in a big circle around the patrol at the edge of the city. 

Saladin kept a pulse rifle aimed at the unsuspecting Fallen while raising his hand and motioning for Vax to keep going. 

She had her fingers tugged behind his belt and kept him from falling or bumping into anything as they snuck towards the Ketch in the distance. She ignored the realisation of how weirdly intimate it was, pressing matters at hand coming closer and closer. 

The shadow of the Fallen ship loomed over them as they approached and Vax tapped on Saladin’s shoulder to have him turn around and join her in securing the perimeter. 

Wordlessly like a well-oiled machine they covered the outside and then laid down and killed the few Dregs and Vandals that had been chatting at the entrance. They couldn’t even respond to their allies’ deaths before their own heads popped off and their bodies fell to the floor. 

The two Guardians met back at the entrance to the ship, and Ghost materialised to open the door. 

Saladin entered first, weapon raised as he walked into the dark ship. 

Vax followed him easily, door slipping shut behind them. She tapped on his shoulder and then motioned to their right, signalling the engine room was over there. 

He nodded and allowed her to lead, covering their backs as she guided them to the engine room in the belly of the Ketch, Ghost showing her the path on her HUD. 

A Dreg walked in their vision and was about to press on a nearby alarm when her scout rifle kicked back against her shoulder and the bullet lodged itself in the alien’s skull. As she continued moving Saladin quickly dragged the body behind some crates before catching up with her again. 

Within minutes they were in the hot room they had been looking for and split up, attaching explosives to the various pipes and exhausts that kept the engine running. 

They rendezvoused at the door and nodded at each other.

Vax once again took the lead to outside, nothing but their quiet steps and the creaking of the hull audible. 

And then the alarm rang out, red warning lights lighting up the halls as the outside doors started closing. 

“They must have found the explosives!” Saladin called out over the noise, two Guardians crouched in the hallway covering both sides. 

“Or found the bodies. We should hurry and we may make it,” she started, but then gasped and grasped for Saladin behind her as she rolled to the side and pulled him with her, dragging his heavy body into the small alcove. 

“What-“ he breathed, then shutting up when a group of Dregs and Vandals ran by, accompanied by some Captains. 

“Let’s wait for a moment,” she whispered, heat settling in her gut when she realised their predicament. 

They were practically in each other’s laps, the alcove just a bit too small to accommodate two armoured Guardians. Their hands brushed together and legs were pressed against each other, but neither Guardian spoke of it. 

Vax was eternally grateful for her helmet.

The Titan was pointedly looking towards the hallway, but she wasn’t sure if it was to be on lookout or to avoid eye contact. 

Either way, the heat of their bodies pressed together like this definitely did things to her she couldn’t admit to herself and quickly pushed very far away. 

“Clear,” he wiggled himself free and bumped into her leg with his groin, a noise escaping him that he quickly swallowed. “Come on.”

She followed after him, heated cheeks an awful distraction as the alarm kept whining around them. “Exit’s going to be blocked or extremely secured, we need another way out pronto.”

“Vent, there,” he tapped at her shoulder and motioned to the vent. “Ghost can pull up a schematic, should lead to an exit.”

She looked back at him. “What exactly are you planning?” 

“We need to turn off their long range emergency beacons before they call in any backup, it’s located in the control room,” he glanced around them. “If they found the explosives they got rid of it. Priority is still to explode this ship and take out the patrol.”

“The patrol that is undoubtedly on its way back. Saladin, we have to ___go___ , it’s not worth the risk,” she reasoned, shaking her head at him. 

He looked down at her, body language seeming almost desperate. “Vax they-“‘he started on a breath before visibly forcing himself to calm down. “They may nuke the city. I don’t want them to-“ his voice broke, and despite his attempt at hiding it, she had still noticed it. 

She hadn’t seen him anxious before. She frowned up to him, wanted nothing more than to wrap him in her arms and hold him tight. He had a connection with this city she didn’t understand, but it was important to him, so it was important to her. “Lead the way.”

He guided them to the control room in silence, finding more Fallen along the way and leaving bodies in their wake, not bothering to hide them. 

They didn’t talk about what had happened. 

“They’ll be waiting,” she murmured at the door, hand on Saladin’s shoulder to stop him from moving. “We need another way in.”

“Vent should be close by.”

She looked around and then found it. “I’ll fit. I’ll get in and come at them from above, you charge at my signal.”

He raised his thumb at her and stayed waiting at the door, his Ghost Luca keeping it shut for now. 

She easily removed the grate in front of the vent and jumped up into the small and confined space, crawling around and following the path that Ghost pinged her. When she arrived at the control room she opened her comms to the Titan. “Some Captains, few Vandals. No Kell to be seen,” she whispered, slowly and carefully starting to remove the grate. 

“May be checking on the engines,” his gruff voice crackled over the comms.

“Too mundane, wouldn’t require his assistance. Probably in his room,” her lips barely parted as she methodically clambered down and quietly hopped to the ground. “Go.”

The door opened and the Fallen all turned to look at it and melt the wall behind it with their lasers. They halted when it was empty and chittered among themselves. 

That’s when Vax summoned a grenade and threw it into the group of enemies. 

A second passed and then it exploded, sending some Vandals flying through the air. 

It only took out the Captain’s shields however, so as Vax dodged and ducked away from his blades, Saladin charged in the room and shoulder charged the Fallen straight into the wall, killing it instantaneously. 

“There were-“ before she could finish another two Captains shot at them, and Saladin summoned a barricade for them.

“Throw a nova bomb, it’ll demolish them,” he called out over their gunfire. 

A decision had to be made. 

“I’m saving it for the Kell, I know he’s out there. Use your striker,” she nodded assuredly at him. “If the Kell shows, I got him.”

“Attagirl.”

The grin was audible over the comms and she watched him slide out of cover and start sizzling with electricity. She felt just as electrified as he seemed as he slammed into a Captain and exploded his body as soon as his touched theirs. The lightning lunged to the other Captain, who was unable to move away in time and screeched as the lightning connected and exploded his insides. 

The Titan stood up straight, electricity dwindling down his body and disappearing into the ground as he adjusted his gauntlets. “That takes care of that.”

“Great,” she felt a bit breathless as she summoned Ghost and had it work on the controls to turn off the alarm and locate the emergency beacons. 

“Got it,” it then said, pinging the locations on their HUDs. 

She raised her scout rifle and shot the small devices attached and hidden around the room. “No way for them to contact anybody else now.”

“We need a way to explode this Ketch,” Saladin looked over the controls. “Maybe initiate a self destruct,” he hovered his hand over the button but then saw the timer and halted. “We don’t have ten seconds to get out of here.”

“Change the timer.”

“Can’t, they locked the access and I don’t have the password for it. Luca can’t crack it either, new type of encryption,” he tapped on some buttons and called up some schematics of the engine room. 

“No way to try and attach explosives again, they’ll have the room secured at this point,” she countered, shaking her head as she kept her Nameless Midnight aimed at the door, ready for a next threat to pop up. 

“Blow out the thrusters, outside,” he snapped his fingers. “Nova bomb may do the trick, or a well placed solar hammer,” he tapped away at some screens. “Logs tell me they don’t have enough supplies to repair something major like that.”

“And while they’re stranded we can kill the Kell,” she nodded in agreement. “Solid plan. We’re gonna need all the firepower for him though if I’m going to blow up the thrusters. I didn’t bring any rockets.”

Saladin hummed. “Our Ghosts may be able to scavenge some from the Ketch and modify them to work with our launchers. It’s going to have to do,” he pushed a new clip into his gun. 

She nodded, checking her ammo count before she let out a sigh. “Let’s cause some explosions and save Las Vegas.”

He eyed at her but didn’t say anything, leading their way our of the control room. 

“Where are they?” she muttered down her scope, glancing around the empty corridors. 

“Right now I’m not worried about that,” he murmured back, the rest of their walking spent in silence. Not long after they reached the door they had come in from and he checked the exit before motioning for Vax to move out. 

She did just that. “Give me a minute,” she jogged to the end of the Ketch, puffing out her breaths and then taking a second to recover before void started tingling at the tip of her fingers. 

“That alcove-“

“Now is ___really___ not the time, Ghost,” she growled lowly, purple void light struggling to be summoned. “I’m not in the right mindset at all,” she muttered then, hands shaking at the force it took for her to summon the nothingness. 

Just then something in the Ketch exploded and shook the ground she was standing on, rumbled through the earth and spat out sand and dirt all around her. She reflexively steadied herself, eyes wide. “Saladin!” she gasped, panic settling in her gut. “Ghost, open the channel to Saladin-“

“Negative, can’t connect to his Ghost.”

She cursed, cold sweat dripping down her spine despite the heat of the desert around her, hands flexing nervously around her weapon. “What do I do?”

“Destroy the thrusters first, deny their escape,” Ghost repeated their plan, ticking her helmet towards the idle thrusters. “I know you worry, but we have a plan that we should follow first. Don’t lose your cool.”

She knew it was right but she struggled to focus on one specific thought in her scrambled brain, the only thought that really came out on top being ___Saladin___. 

She shook her head and then took a deep breath, shaking her hands loose. She pointedly ignored the plume of smoke coming from a breach in the hull, the anxiety for once useful to summon the void. 

Within seconds she threw out a powerful nova bomb at the thrusters, the entity exploding into smaller units as soon as it had touched upon the surface of the Ketch and those units seeking the heat inside the thrusters and exploding inside their engines. 

Explosions echoed inside and then steam and smoke blew straight out of the thrusters and their vents, and Vax’ job was done. 

“Keep trying to open a comm link and as soon as possible ping me his location,” she rushed back towards the door, only to find it blown open with a Kell blocking her way. She looked up to the big Fallen and raised her weapon and emptied her magazine into it, blue blood where she hit him, but undeterred otherwise. 

It shouted out in anger and turned to face Vax, revealing an unconscious Saladin behind it. 

Her eyes focused back on the Kell and she quickly dodged a swipe of its sword, rolling over the ground. “Ghost, scan Saladin and give me his vitals!” 

She methodically evaded its attacks and shot bullets into it until she had reached the unconscious Titan, her HUD showing his weak vitals, showed he was alive. Scorch marks were all around him and she realised that he had summoned his Sol powers and then was smacked down as soon as he unleashed them, causing a violent explosion. 

The Kell roared and grabbed his weapon, a large slug shot rifle, and aimed it at the two Guardians. 

She cursed and gripped Saladin’s armour and pulled him out of the way of the Kell’s shot, grunting at the effort it took to move him out of harms way. 

The explosion had made the already big space even bigger, and with an annoyed wince she knew she had to fight the Kell and kill him here, on her own. 

She took a breath. “Transmat the modified rockets, I’m grabbing my launcher,” she summoned the launcher and shot at the Kell’s feet, direct hits and explosions sending dirt and pieces of metal flying into the air. 

She ran up some stairs to hide behind some caches, faintly noticed Saladin’s vitals getting better. 

“Luca’s signal received,” Ghost said then. “She’s healing him now, he’ll be awake in a minute.”

“Good,” she sprayed some bullets into the Kell’s torso, pulse rifle recoiling into her shoulder. 

It turned around to face Vax and aimed up with its rifle, huge slugs piercing through the walls around her. 

She summoned an electrified grenade and threw it onto the Kell’s back, focused her Light on its Ether supply. 

The lightning pierced one of the tanks and Ether hissed out into the air, the Kell screeching angrily and spraying more slugs into the heavy-duty caches the Warlock was hiding behind. 

“Incoming!” Saladin’s voice rang over the comms and a purple shield zapped behind her, bounced off the wall, and then shot straight against the Kell’s chin, promptly breaking its jaw. 

“I weakened it, I can zap it if you cover me, these caches aren’t holding out much longer!” she yelled over the Kell’s angry roars.

Within a second Saladin appeared above the Kell, boosting over it and then shoulder charging to the platform Vax was on. He easily landed on his feet and braced himself before a purple shield covered his forearm and a big defensive wall covered the Guardians. 

As soon as she saw the shield she jumped up and summoned all the lightning she could, charging it into her clenched fist before releasing a big stream of pure electrified Light into the Kell, sizzling its skin and melting its armoured plates.

The Kell let out screams and tried desperately to evade the assault, but it dropped dead to the floor before it could, skin loose on its bones after the Light had violated it. 

Saladin dropped the shield and whipped back to Vax. 

“Are you okay?” they called out in unison. 

She could now see the hole in his helmet and the dried up blood on his face. “You’re hurt-“ she instinctively moved to assess the damage but then stopped herself. Luca had already healed him of course. 

“Only a slight concussion,” he said, looking down at the smouldering body of the Kell, ignored Vax’ comment. “Mission success.”

“Their leadership will be messed up for a while, we should strike now and attach our explosives again to finish this once and for all,” she reloaded her scout rifle. “They’ll be scrambled right now, we should be quick.”

Saladin looked back at her, and through the hole in his helmet she could see ___something___ in his eyes she couldn’t quite place. “Let’s go.”

They once again entered the bowels of the ship, but this time it was an easy job to get in and out and do what they had originally planned. 

They were back in Las Vegas to view the exploding Ketch, a satisfying cloud of smoke following its wreckage. 

“Thank you.”

They were having dinner in the twilight of the day, the heat cooling down to a pleasant temperature.

Vax looked up from her plate, blinked. “No need to thank me.”

Saladin shrugged, not meeting her eyes over the fire. “You didn’t have to help me, but you did. I appreciate it.”

She was silent for a moment, tried to contemplate her words. “You- obviously have an attachment to this place,” she said carefully, lowering her plate down to her lap. “And let’s be honest... We’re both here to get away from something, think of other things. It would’ve been awful if you would have lost something you’re attached to during.”

A small smile on his face that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Yes, that’s true,” he said simply, taking another bite from his food. 

She decided not to prod any further, a comfortable silence between the two as they ate. 

The next day she helped him clean and polish his armour once more, something the Iron Lord had insisted upon. 

They scavenged through town and managed to robustly repair the hole in his helmet with the help of Luca to weld pieces together. It wasn’t a clean fix or anything, but it would do until they would eventually return to the Tower to get it repaired by actual professionals. 

He showed her the book shops in town and helped her shift through all the ruined books until she could find some that were still readable and that she could bring back home. 

“It’s a rare thing, you know,” he had said with a fond smile. 

“Books?” she had remarked sarcastically, holding a small stack of ones she was interested in. 

“ _ _ _Intact___ ones, to be exact,” he had picked up a book and blew off the sand, shifted through the thick and hard pages. He had tossed it back to the sandy floor. “It’s also quite rare for a Guardian to be interested in them.”

She had laughed softly. “Tell that to Zavala’s girlfriend, I think she has a bigger collection of books than I do.”

He had simply hummed and smiled. 

They walked down what in the past had been ‘the Strip’ and had their Ghosts tell them all about the ruined and deserted buildings that covered the street, tidbits they didn’t know, sometimes even showed holographic videos. Their hands occasionally brushed together, but neither Guardian paid it any mind. 

If Vax hadn’t known any better, she would almost have called it a date. 

She awoke with a shout and sat up soaked in sweat and gripping at her chest. It still ached with a heart physically ripped out and stomped on. She heard the clicking of a safety being removed from a gun and caught her breath. “I’m- I’m okay,” she breathed out, panting. 

Saladin’s deep voice spoke up from his tent, “Nightmare?”

Unsure how to respond she simply stayed silent, breath evening out. 

The silence was its own response and the light he had turned on turned back off as he went back to sleep, unsure what he could offer the Warlock to help. 

She hadn’t slept much so the next morning she was up before him and opted to make them some pancakes on the campfire, using some of her Sol Light to keep it going and control the heat. 

As she was munching on a pancake Saladin emerged from his tent, nodding a greeting and then taking his plate. “Smells delicious.”

They ate in a comfortable silence. 

“I was thinking about going to the mountain range west of here,” he spoke up then, chewing down some of the food. “Just explore the region, enjoy the snow and scenery. Doubt there’ll be any enemies, so it’d be relaxing. They have gorgeous lakes there, I saw on satellite images.”

Her blue eyes looked into his brown ones. “Those lakes will be freezing, and I didn’t pack any swimwear.” 

He grinned at her and didn’t respond, sipping his drink with a content smile. “Let’s finish this, clean up, and go. It’s a long drive.”

“So why not fly there?”

“See, that’s the Guardian inside you talking, saying we have to be efficient,” he chuckled softly, Luca transmatting his used cutlery away. “The drive is half the fun, calming. Maybe we encounter some more action along the way.”

A blush rose to her cheeks, even though she knew very well the kind of action he meant. “I am quite content with just the Ketch for the coming few days. I exhausted my Light, I can use a recharge.”

He got up and stretched. “Don’t worry, I can manage some extra Light for the two of us,” he smiled and then turned to start taking apart the tent. 

The drive to the mountains was ___long___ , the Guardians having to set up their tents for quite a few nights in a row as the temperature dwindled and rose until it steadily kept cooling off the nearer they got to the mountains.

Surprisingly they didn’t come across many enemies, the landscape mostly littered with ruined and forgotten cities and towns, traffic jams still occupying destroyed roads. 

By the time they were finally at a road they could take, Vax was bundled up in her winter armour and Saladin had once again donned his heavy robes suited for the weather. 

“Well, where did you want to go first?” she looked at the Titan, both Guardians seated on their sparrows and idling for a moment, taking a moment to themselves. 

He pointed to a summit. “Should be an old lookout up there,” his breath fogged into the air as he looked at the darkening sky around them. “We can set up camp there and hopefully find some shelter in a building.”

She nodded, shivering under her thick clothes and revving her sparrow. 

Saladin led the way up snow-covered roads that the Titan had to use Sol Light for to melt away, slowly progressing them higher up the mountain range. 

Eventually they made it to a small clearing that looked out over the land sprawled below, an abandoned shack rotten away and a more modern building still standing around the area. Broken lights stood into the ground, but no electricity came into them anymore, the silhouettes an ominous shadow in the dark. 

“Let’s set up camp in the concrete building,” Saladin stepped off his sparrows and landed into the deep snow. “You make the campfire?”

She nodded, bundled deep into her thick armour with a scarf wrapped around her neck covering her up to her nose. Despite that, the cold still settled into her gut and clung against her skin. She turned and Ghost lit her way as she went looking for twigs and branches she could use for the fire, returning fifteen minutes later with her arms full. 

Saladin had set up their tents facing the campfire and had fashioned a small fence with some plastic coverings that had been laying around to break some of the wind coming in through the broken windows.

At this point they had been travelling together for a month, and the butterflies in her belly and his warm smile became more and more distracting and harder to ignore. 

She dropped the wood to the ground and created a pile before snapping her fingers at it and sparking Sol fire onto it, promptly setting the wood ablaze and creating a cozy atmosphere in the small building that had been something like an information kiosk, complete with its own little souvenir shop. 

As she sat there at the fire, eyes closed and body shivering as she tried desperately to warm up, Saladin wandered into the dark souvenir shop. 

He rustled about and sometimes mumbled something to himself or Luca, until he suddenly spoke right next to her. “Look.”

Cold eyes opened and landed on the little figure he held in his open hands. 

A small wooden bear figure, half broken, but still looking quite well preserved for its assumed age. 

She blinked and looked up to him again, questioned with only her eyes. 

He laughed and took her hand, putting the figure in it and then closing her fingers for her. “Keep it, as a little keepsake. I found my own already,” he showed her a wolf figure.

“I want a wolf as well,” she said then, lips barely parting from the cold. “It looks awesome.” 

“Sure,” he nodded and walked back to the kiosk, rummaging around for another minute before he came back and gently handed her a wooden wolf. 

She beamed at it, grinning. “Thank you, it’s so cool,” she eyed at it, shifting so the fire could light it a bit better. “It’s so well preserved,” she mumbled then. “It must be centuries old.”

“Or wooden figures never went out of style and were still made in the Golden Age,” he shrugged, sat down at the fire and holding his gloved hands out to it. He looked back to her and then tilted his head. “You look like you are freezing.”

“The downside of being an Awoken,” she sighed, sniffing. “I’m fine.”

They sat silently for a moment, the warmth of the fire slowly creating a little warm bubble. 

“C’mere,” the Titan spoke then, shuffling over to sit next to Vax before he grabbed his robes and wrapped her tightly under it, arm around her shoulders and pulling her close against him. “Let me help.”

Her heart about exploded, doing another triple salto when she felt him summon some of his Sol Light to heat up his body to act as a small furnace. She didn’t need any exterior warmth to feel the heat on her cheeks.

His hand was comfortable on her arm, other hand holding the cloak tightly around them, enveloping the two Guardians into its wind-breaking and heat-holding abilities. 

For once she felt actual warmth on her skin, the discomfort of the cool snow in the air replaced with a comfortable warmth surrounding her and making her sleepy. She dozed a bit in his arms, unable to keep her eyes open now that she was properly comfortable, and before long she fell asleep. 

She awoke with quite some weight pressing down on her body, clearing her dry throat and realising she was comfortably warm. 

She also realised Saladin was pressed tightly against her with his arms holding her close, armour taken off and nothing but their bodysuits preventing their skins from touching. 

With heated cheeks and a lightheaded sensation she glanced around, noticed the pile of blankets covering them and the sound of the fire outside the tent. The colour of the tent differing from hers. 

Ghost quietly chimed up from inside her helmet. “He told me he figured you’d be cold throughout the night so he thought it’d be a smart idea to bundle up and use bodyheat and your combined blankets to stay warm. I checked your vitals all night, you didn’t once get hypothermia.”

She looked at its blue optic inside her helmet at her side, unable to find any words. She was hyper aware of his body against her back, the slow and steady rise and fall of his chest with every breath taken, their hips aligned and her bum pressed against his crotch. She raised a hand to her mouth, stopped the little gasp from escaping. 

“And you tell me it’s too soon,” Ghost said dryly. “Heart rate is through the roof right now.”

“Yes I know, thank you,” she hissed at her companion, heart thumping loudly in her throat. “If I move I’ll wake him.”

“So? He put you there, I’m sure he’ll expect you to get up once you’re awake.”

She nodded but couldn’t find the strength in her to leave, the comforting warmth soothing her, and his arms around her somehow comfortable and familiar. 

“How much longer are you going to ignore it?”

Cool blue eyes stared daggers into its optic and it chuckled before zooming away to leave her alone with the sleeping Saladin. 

He stirred ten minutes later, rolling to his back and letting out a heavy breath before he sniffed and rubbed in his eyes. “You okay?”

She opened her mouth, took a second before she felt like she could speak without wavering. “I’m warm,” she didn’t move from her side, sure that as soon as she’d look him in his eyes she’d absolutely pull him in for a kiss. It terrified her. 

“Good. When I picked you up last night you were freezing. I hope you don’t mind...?” he sounded awkward, unsure about if he had crossed a boundary or not. He tapped his fingers together. 

A breathless chuckle. “No, it’s- it’s okay,” she assured him then, taking a deep and quiet breath to try and calm her nerves. “I appreciate the effort, really.”

Silence. 

“I’ll make us some breakfast,” he got up from the bed and crawled out the tent, air suddenly a lot colder than it had been before.

When the smell of toast, bacon, and eggs met her she got up and crawled out of the man’s tent, shivering as soon as some cold wind blew past her. She pulled a blanket with her and wrapped it around herself, sitting around the fire and waiting for food to be done. 

“Hope you slept well,” Saladin said softly, not meeting her eyes. “I wasn’t sure what to do and I know we’re Guardians but... yeah,” he plated their breakfast and handed her her plate. “Why don’t you use the Sol Light to heat you up?”

She nodded her thanks and sighed. “I’m unable to. I’ve tried before but something about being an Awoken just makes it impossible to act like a furnace the way you- uh, you did last night,” she could feel her heart beating loudly inside her chest as she remembered. “I don’t usually stay in cold places very long, it’s not a very enjoyable experience.”

A slow nodding of his head as he thoughtfully took a bite of his toast. He seemed to wrestle with some thoughts before he took a breath. “I don’t want to overstep any boundaries, first and foremost,” he started, exhaling and then meeting her blue eyes. “But I would be okay with sharing a tent if that means you won’t freeze to death.”

There was no way he couldn’t see the blushing of her cheeks, blinking like she was a deer in headlights. “Uh.”

“I don’t want to make you uncomfortable, but I also want to make sure you don’t experience anything unpleasant while we’re in the mountains at my own request,” he shoved some food inside so he would stop talking, averting his gaze. 

They were both quiet for a moment, Vax bewildered, and Saladin seeming to beat himself up for even asking. 

“It’s,” she started on a shaky voice she was sure he noticed. “It’s fine, thank you. I think that’s a good idea, combined blankets and- all,” she carded some hair behind her ear and followed Saladin in shoving food inside her mouth. 

They spent most of the day in silence, trekking around the mountains and viewing the vistas it offered. When it neared dusk they made it back to their camp and had to face what they both had been spending all day being nervous about. 

“I can cook us some spaghetti?” Vax offered softly once they were inside the building, voice feeling odd after the slow day. 

The Titan nodded and sat down, starting to take off his armour and putting it aside. 

By the time the spaghetti was done, which was really just heating up some canned food they had Ghost transmat, he was sitting in just his bodysuit and Vax could see the definitions of his muscles under the cloth. She looked at the pan on the fire instead. “It’s done.”

He accepted his plate and started eating, unusually silent even for him. 

“Are you okay?” she had to ask, even if her stomach made a dozen flips and her heart beat loudly enough she feared he may hear. 

Brown eyes stared into the fire, food forgotten in his lap. “I had a wife, once.”

The Warlock tensed at that, energy of the room shifting to something she struggled to understand. “You don’t have to—“

“I know,” he smiled gently at the fire, laugh lines creasing the edges near his eyes. “But I want to talk about it. It’d be good for me.”

She sat back, was almost afraid to look at him in his vulnerable state. With where they were she had no idea what the boundaries between them were. Of course she had noticed the subtle flirting, touches, glances, not to mention the outright cuddling she had awoken to. She recognised that well enough, and it terrified her. 

“She was mortal, a civilian. I found her when I was helping construction of the Tower, she was one of the electricians,” fondness filled his eyes, mixed with the sadness already in them. He idly stirred his fork in the spaghetti. “She initiated, and I remember telling her we shouldn’t. I couldn’t bear the thought of watching her grow old and wither away, even if I knew I loved her deeply already, but then she kissed me and-“ he took a breath, hands trembling ever so slightly before he gripped his plate tighter. “We were together after that. I did what I was so afraid would happen. I watched her grow old and eventually had to watch her die from old age. A fine death in the age we were living in, but it destroyed me.”

She quietly watched him through the flames, terrified to break the thin ice they were currently treading as he had decided he ___trusted___ her with this information. Had decided to step up their limbo of a friendship 

“She was gorgeous, one of the most beautiful women I had ever seen. After her I didn’t really pursue anything for decades. Every time I thought of moving on I saw her face and guilt was all I could feel,” he took a bite from his food, shaking his head. “It’s been decades and it still hurts. I’m still unsure if I made a right choice or not.”

The fire sparked between them and she jolted out of her thoughts, blinked at the quiet Titan. She chewed her lips and then nodded. “I think you did. If you loved her, any time you could spend with her was time well spent, I’m sure of that.”

He smiled softly and gently, nodded slowly. “Perhaps. I enjoyed the years we had, but it was awful to see her grow old and have me stay the same. Every photo we have you can see the progression of her while I’m still the same. It’s gruelling and confronting, I don’t know how other Guardians do it so many times. I did it once and it broke me,” he put his plate aside, hunger long forgotten. 

The wind whistled outside and the leaves rustled, but all Vax could really focus on was the quiet Titan opposite of her. Now more than ever she wanted to wrap her arms around him and hug him, kiss him, anything to make his hurt go away. 

“I’m going to bed. Have a good night,” he broke the silence, getting up from the floor and then turning to his tent and entering it, not closing the zipper of the entrance. 

It took her a full ten minutes to process what he had said, the fire since weakened and barely illuminating her. She sparked some more Sol onto it and then got up as well, taking off her armour before wiping down her hands on her bodysuit. Anxiety flared up inside her, knew that him not closing the tent meant she was welcome inside. If felt awfully intimate and plain out ___wrong___ after what he had told her. 

He was grieving, though. Just like her. 

She wrung her hands and then nodded to herself before silently stepping inside the tent. She carefully moved the blankets aside and then took a minute to hype herself up before she crawled in and wrapped the blankets tightly around her, shivering wildly. 

His warm body stirred at the movement and he grumbled. “Y’okay?” he mumbled, turning on his other side and wrapping an arm around her to pull her close. 

She instinctively tensed. 

He halted his movement, seemed to sober up immediately. “Sorry, I-“

“No,” she breathed, heat settling in her gut and blushing her cheeks. “It’s fine, I’m freezing.”

She decided right then and there to fully go for it, to accept the feelings she was having and to run a risk and go with the consequences. 

She moved her hand to pull his arm properly around her and then snuggled close to him, heart hammering in her chest, but butterflies going crazy. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight,” he stammered out, Sol heat emanating from his body. 

When she awoke they were tangled together, limbs crossed and blankets barely covering them. Hyper aware of the bulge against her hips she didn’t dare move, barely dared to breathe. Curiosity burned inside her but every fibre of her being screamed at her to not even try, to let sleeping dogs lie and to not try anything without him knowing. 

And she had to agree with that, so she didn’t move, closing her eyes again and feigning sleep. 

He awoke not much later, relaxed but then tensing when he, too, became aware of where his crotch was. He made a noise and seemed to wait for a moment before he carefully started to try and untangle himself from the Warlock, clumsy at the unfamiliar body pressed against him. 

She opened her eyes as if his movement woke her. “What?” she mumbled, moving to help him untangle. 

“Just- need a bit,” he seemed breathless as he got up and exited the tent, leaving the building. 

Vax shot up taking heavy breaths, eyes wide. “Holy shit, holy shit,” she breathed, running a hand through her hair. “Ghost, I’m in so deep, what the fuck do I do?” 

Ghost zoomed into the tent. “Luca sent me his vitals just now. I think you two should just go for it already,” if it could grin it would be sporting a wide one, flying around its companion’s head. 

“Shut up,” she instinctively snapped at it, but then shook her head and put it in her hands. “Oh god. I can’t share the bed another night, I’m going insane with thoughts and fantasies, I don’t understand,” she mumbled, biting at her lips. 

“Vax,” Ghost sobered up, hovering close to her and sharing its pleasant Light with her. “You deserve happiness, even if life right now is tough and you are grieving at Eris’ loss, you have a good thing that could be coming from this. A good thing you both seem to want, what’s holding you back? You have nothing to lose.”

She stared into its optic and then grumbled as she kicked the sheets aside. “I hate when you’re right.”

He was standing in the cold looking out over the sprawling lands below, hands on his hips and taking deep and deliberate breaths, fogging the air at every exhale. Snow drizzled around him and covered his armour. 

“Saladin,” Vax called out gently, boots crunching in the snow as she walked up to him, the Titan’s robes wrapped around her shoulders to try and combat the cold.

He didn’t turn. “I’m afraid.”

She blinked, hair tickling her face as the wind moved it around. “Of what?” she carefully moved to stand next to him, tried to meet his eyes.

He shook his head, looked away from her. “You. What it means if we-“ he winced, running a hand down his face and taking a breath. “I’m afraid I’m going to fuck it up somehow.”

It took a moment for her brain to process this, staring out over the view. “You think I’m not?” she asked then, quietly. She looked at him once more and finally met his eyes. “I’m terrified of what this means. I just lost somebody too and somehow my body is already falling for somebody else while I’m still grieving that loss. I don’t even know if it’s genuine or just some kind of hurt response.”

The Titan furrowed his brows. “I’m sorry you lost somebody.”

“As am I for you.”

They were quiet for another moment. 

“I think I quite like you,” she softly broke the silence, decided to take the plunge and accept whatever consequence would follow. 

He chuckled a bit breathlessly. “Fuck,” he muttered, looking down at the snow and unable to stop the smile from curving his lips. “Not sure if that’s a wise decision. I’m not exactly boyfriend material. I’m broken, hurt, scarred.”

She gently placed her hand on his bicep and turned him to face her, raising her trembling hand to cup his cheek. “Saladin, if you think I am any better, I’m not sure who you’ve been seeing this past month,” she said softly, smiling a bit. “I don’t particularly care how broken you are or how scarred, all I know is that every time I look at you I want to kiss you and take your breath away.”

He blinked into her eyes, stammering a bit and blushing. Despite his cool-headedness in battle situations and being an expert warrior, actual romance seemed lost on him. He looked down and laughed a bit. “I’m not that good with words as you,” he said then, softly. “And I’m not quite sure what to do now,” he admitted, subconsciously leaning into her hand on his face. He then registered how cold her hand was. “Wait, you must be freezing,” he started. 

And she pressed their lips together softly, heat of their mouths negating the cold and making them forget everything around them but each other. 

He made a noise and carefully moved his arms around her and pulled her close against him, tilted his head and opened his mouth to allow her better access. 

She licked inside and raised her other hand to hold his face in her hands and press close, making a small noise in the kiss when their tongues met. 

She broke the kiss with a small gasp, eyes still closed when she pulled back ever so slightly and revelled at the taste of Saladin on her lips and tongue. She met his eyes and exhaled a hot breath. “I’m a bit, lightheaded,” she breathed. 

He nodded, pushing close and pressing their foreheads together. “Tell me about it.”

And they softly laughed together, wrapped around each other in the cold of the mountain, unsure what they were or where they were going, but knowing that they at least would have each other. 


End file.
